A purrfect New Year’s card. | Hulton Archive/GettyImages. Sending Christmas and New Year’s cards first became a tradition in the Victorian Era. And just like the odd Victorian Christmas Hogmanay- Scottish New Year. New Year celebrations have changed over time, even from the beginning to the end of the Victorian era. Prince Albert may have introduced the tradition of the Christmas tree from Germany, but Queen Victoria was obsessed with everything Scottish. There was no bigger holiday during the year in Scotland than New Year Victorian New Year’s Eve. Wikimedia. Victorian New Year’s Celebrations Were Full of Mysticism. Victorians thought New Year was important because what you were doing on that day was what you would be doing for the rest of the year. If you stayed at home you might doom yourself to a year of illness that kept you inside. New Year’s cards might have mischievous monkeys, drunk frogs, and more dead birds, much like the strange Victorian Christmas imagery of dead birds and dogs with guns. Cards from the Kinney Tobacco Company that featured pictures of kids being thrown into a cauldron to make soup and were stamped with the date of the previous year were Victorian celebrations of the New Year often mirrored celebrations of Christmas. Traditions such as wassailing the apple trees, first-footing (ensuring that the first person to set foot in one's house was of a "lucky" type), and many others might be celebrated on either date (or both!). I also uncovered other Victorian holiday traditions involving pigs that I found truly unique. Let’s take a look at pigs and clovers in the Victorian New Year. Pigs as a symbol of prosperity. Four leaf clovers have been symbols of luck and prosperity for thousands of years for what are possibly obvious reasons to many readers. Despite the Victorians’ obsession with pagan traditions and the occult, bells were rung at midnight on New Years’ Eve to celebrate good’s victory over evil and to bring hope for peace and happiness in the year ahead. 7. Ashes to ashes. Most Victorian homes had a fire in each room and on New Year’s eve the ashes were swept from every hearth. Welcome to my blog, 19th Century!In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of 19th century holidays. From Victorian Christmas traditions to New Year’s celebrations, get ready to step back in time and explore how our ancestors marked these special occasions. And, with New Year's Eve just a few days away, historians at Blists Hill Victorian Town have delved into the archives to lift the lid on the Victorian traditions that have made their way into the 21st century, as well as how our Victorian ancestors would have celebrated the dawn of the coming year at the end of the 19th century. Embed from Getty ImagesMy late mother-in-law was quite superstitious. Every New Year's Day, she waited by the phone, hoping that the first person to call her would be a man. If a woman called first, the year would be a disaster. She believed the same about people coming to her door, although that was less likely to happen than getting a telephone call. My husband took on the duty of calling This annual New Year’s celebration with fireworks continued for the next two years. In 1907, New York banned fireworks, and a new way to ring in the new year was sought. It was decided a ball would descend on a pole atop the New York Times building, indicating the new year once it came to rest on the rooftop. New Year comes in only a couple days, so Etiquetteer wanted to take a look at some old traditions, some of which could stand a comeback (once the pandemic is over). Once upon a time New Year’s Day was more celebrated than Christmas, which Etiquetteer rather likes. Victorian families entertained on The Scottish new year celebration gifted England with hundreds of bizarre superstitions and cultural rituals. Without further ado, VTC presents the Top 10 Victorian New Years’ Traditions: 1. Matchmaking. New Year’s Eve was no extraordinary affair among Victorian high society. But New Year’s Day was marked by a marathon of social Victorian New Year Card. c1877 “May Hope’s Bright Rainbow Beautify the New Year.” Public Domain. Victorian Parlor 1900. Public Domain. “Top Ten Victorian New Year Traditions & Superstitions.” Victorian Trading Co. Jan. 4, 2016. Gina. “A Victorian New Year.” Victorian Wanna Be. Dec. 29, 2012. Donna Klein. Discover the Victorian era first-hand in this huge topical archive of articles from Victorian periodicals! It's your #1 destination for everything you want to know about the Victorian era, including recipes, fashions, crafts, history, royalty, pets, Victorian images and clip art, and much, much more. New Year's Eve party ideas, new years traditions, traditional new years food, Victorian new years traditions, Victorian traditions, New Years Eve ideas, Latest Popular Happy New Year! In case you can’t make it to Times Square to watch the ball drop, here are a few unique ways to usher in 2022. Most of these practices come from the British Isles. (Excerpted from a Mental Floss article by Keith Johnson). First Footing: Throw NYE party at you home, but to 4. Cake Walk – Ireland . A curious New Year’s Eve tradition was recorded in Ireland in the early 19th century. According to this custom, the head of each household would take a freshly made cake, go outside, and launch the baked goods outside of their front door. According to Sunny O’Neil in The Gift of Christmas Past: A Return to Victorian Traditions, people of the Victorian Era also used New Year’s day to wipe out their social obligations from the previous year. Wealthy people opened their mansions to visitors, offering huge spreads of food and drink. We have a list of the 40 best New Year's Eve traditions for you to read, enjoy and take part in! In Victorian times, pigs represented happiness, prosperity and good health, which is where the
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